[Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Buchanan County 1-9-2017. Amendments noted where applicable.]

GENERAL REFERENCES

[In regard to statutory references, unless the
County specifically amends the statutory provisions to the contrary
or repeals the statutory provisions, future amendments to said statute
shall take effect as provided by law.]

The purpose of this chapter is to protect public health, safety,
and welfare by regulating open burning within Buchanan County to achieve
and maintain, to the greatest extent practicable, a level of air quality
that will provide comfort and convenience while promoting economic
and social development. This chapter is intended to supplement the
applicable regulations promulgated by the State Air Pollution Control
Board and other applicable regulations and laws.

Any lot or place that is exposed to the weather and upon
which more than five motor vehicles of any kind, incapable of being
operated, and that it would not be economically practical to make
operative, are placed, located or found.

Wood or wood products that have been cut or shaped and include
wet, air-dried, and kiln-dried wood products. Clean lumber does not
include wood products that have been painted, pigment-stained, or
pressure-treated by compounds such as chromate copper arsenate, pentachlorophenol,
and creosote.

Uncontaminated natural or untreated wood. Clean wood includes,
but is not limited to, by-products of harvesting activities conducted
for forest management or commercial logging, or mill residues consisting
of bark, chips, edgings, sawdust, shavings or slabs. It does not include
wood that has been treated, adulterated, or chemically changed in
some way; treated with glues, binders or resins; or painted, stained
or coated.

Solid waste that is produced or generated during construction
remodeling, or repair of pavements, houses, commercial buildings and
other structures. Construction waste consists of lumber, wire, Sheetrock,
broken brick, shingles, glass, pipes, concrete, and metal and plastics
if the metal or plastics are a part of the materials of construction
or empty containers for such materials. Paints, coatings, solvents,
asbestos, any liquid, compressed gases or semi-liquids, and garbage
are not construction wastes, and the disposal of such materials must
be in accordance with the regulations of the Virginia Waste Management
Board.

Any waste material, including garbage, trash and refuse,
derived from households. For purposes of this regulation, households
include single and multiple residences, hotels and motels, bunkhouses,
ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds and day-use
recreation areas. Household wastes do not include sanitary waste in
septic tanks (septage) which is regulated by state agencies.

Any solid waste generated by manufacturing or industrial
processes that is not a regulated hazardous waste. Such waste may
include but is not limited to waste resulting from the following manufacturing
processes: electric power generation; fertilizer/agricultural chemicals;
food and related products/by-products; inorganic chemicals; iron and
steel manufacturing; leather and leather products; nonferrous metals
manufacturing/foundries; organic chemicals; plastics and resins manufacturing;
pulp and paper industry; rubber and miscellaneous plastic products;
stone, glass, clay and concrete products; textile manufacturing; transportation
equipment; and water treatment. This term does not include mining
waste or oil and gas waste.

An establishment or place of business that is maintained,
operated, or used for storing, keeping, buying, or selling junk, or
for the maintenance or operation of an automobile graveyard, and the
term shall include garbage dumps and sanitary landfills.

A device used to burn waste for the primary purpose of reducing
the volume by removing combustible matter. Such devices function by
directing a curtain of air at an angle across the top of a trench
or similarly enclosed space, thus reducing the amount of combustion
by-products emitted into the atmosphere. The term also includes trench
burners, air curtain incinerators and overdraft incinerators.

All solid waste products having the characteristics of solids
rather than liquids and which are composed wholly or partially of
materials such as garbage, trash, rubbish, litter, residues from cleanup
of spills or contamination or other discarded materials.

Any operation consisting of a business, trade or industry
participating in salvaging or reclaiming any product or material,
such as, but not limited to, reprocessing of used motor oils, metals,
chemicals, shipping containers or drums, and specifically including
automobile graveyards and junkyards.

An engineered land burial facility for the disposal of household
waste that is so located, designed, constructed, and operated to contain
and isolate the waste so that it does not pose a substantial present
or potential hazard to human health or the environment. A sanitary
landfill also may receive other types of solid wastes, such as commercial
solid waste, nonhazardous sludge, hazardous waste from conditionally
exempt small quantity generators, construction, demolition, or debris
waste and nonhazardous industrial solid waste. See Solid Waste Management
Regulations (9 VAC 20-80) for further definitions of these terms.

Grass, grass clippings, bushes, shrubs, and clippings from bushes
and shrubs from residential, commercial/retail, institutional, or
industrial sources as part of maintaining yards or other private or
public lands;

Grass, grass clippings, bushes, shrubs, and clippings from
bushes and shrubs that come from residential, commercial/retail, institutional,
or industrial sources as part of maintaining yards or other private
or public lands. Yard waste does not include construction, renovation,
and demolition wastes or clean wood.

No owner or other person shall cause or permit open burning or the
use of a special incineration device for the destruction of rubber
tires, asphaltic materials, crankcase oil, impregnated wood or other
rubber or petroleum based materials except when conducting bona fide
firefighting instruction at firefighting training schools having permanent
facilities.

No owner or other person shall cause or permit open burning or the
use of a special incineration device for the purpose of a salvage
operation or for the destruction of commercial/industrial waste/agriculture
waste.

Open burning or the use of special incineration devices permitted
under the provisions of this chapter does not exempt or excuse any
owner or other person from the consequences, liability, damages or
injuries that may result from such conduct; nor does it excuse or
exempt any owner or other person from complying with other applicable
laws, ordinances, regulations and orders of the governmental entities
having jurisdiction, even though the open burning is conducted in
compliance with this chapter. In this regard special attention should
be directed to § 10.1-1142 of the Forest Fire Law of Virginia,
the regulations of the Virginia Waste Management Board, and the State
Air Pollution Control Board's regulations for the control and
abatement of air pollution.

Upon declaration of an alert, warning or emergency stage of an air
pollution episode as described in 9 VAC 5, Chapter 70 (9 VAC 5-70),
or when deemed advisable by the State Air Pollution Control Board
to prevent a hazard to, or an unreasonable burden upon, public health
or welfare, no owner or other person shall cause or permit open burning
or use of a special incineration device; and any in-process burning
or use of special incineration devices shall be immediately terminated
in the designated air quality control region.

The location of the burning is not less than 300 feet from any occupied
building unless the occupants have given prior permission, other than
a building located on the property on which the burning is conducted;
and

Open burning is permitted on site for destruction of debris waste
resulting from property maintenance, from the development or modification
of roads and highways, parking areas, railroad tracks, pipelines,
power and communication lines, buildings or building areas, sanitary
landfills, or from any other clearing operations that may be approved
by Buchanan County Litter Control Official, provided the following
conditions are met:

Open burning is permitted for destruction of debris on the site of
local landfills or transfer stations provided that the burning does
not take place on land that has been filled and covered so as to present
an underground fire hazard due to the presence of methane gas, provided
that the following conditions are met:

No materials may be burned in violation of the regulations of the
Virginia Waste Management Board or the State Air Pollution Control
Board. The exact site of the burning on a local landfill or transfer
station shall be established in coordination with the regional director
and Buchanan County Litter Control Official: no other site shall be
used without the approval of these officials. The Buchanan County
Litter Control Official shall be notified of the days during which
the burning will occur.

When open burning of debris waste or open burning of debris on the
site of a local landfill is to occur within Buchanan County, the person
responsible for the burning shall obtain a permit from the Buchanan
County Litter Control Official prior to the burning. Such a permit
may be granted only after confirmation by Buchanan County Litter Control
Official that the burning can and will comply with the provisions
of this chapter and any other conditions that are deemed necessary
to ensure that the burning will not endanger the public health and
welfare or to ensure compliance with any applicable provisions of
the State Air Pollution Control Board's regulations for the control
and abatement of air pollution. The permit may be issued for each
occasion of burning or for a specific period of time deemed appropriate
by Buchanan County Litter Control Official.

Prior to the initial installation (or reinstallation, in cases of
relocation) and operation of special incineration devices, the person
responsible for the burning shall obtain a permit from the Buchanan
County Litter Control Official, such permits to be granted only after
confirmation by Buchanan County Litter Control Official that the burning
can and will comply with the applicable provisions in regulations
for the control and abatement of air pollution and that any conditions
are met that are deemed necessary by the Buchanan County Litter Control
Official to ensure that the operation of the devices will not endanger
the public health and welfare. Permits granted for the use of special
incineration devices shall at a minimum contain the following conditions:

The burning shall be at least 300 feet from any occupied building
unless the occupants have given prior permission, other than a building
located on the property on which the burning is conducted; burning
shall be conducted at the greatest distance practicable from highways
and air fields. If the Buchanan County Litter Control Official determines
that it is necessary to protect public health and welfare, he may
direct that any of the above-cited distances be increased.

The burning shall be attended at all times and conducted to ensure
the best possible combustion with a minimum of smoke being produced.
Under no circumstances should the burning be allowed to smolder beyond
the minimum period of time necessary for the destruction of the materials.